Nique Clifford and his decision to chase his NBA dreams or to go back to Colorado State

From Vanguard, to CU, to CSU, Nique Clifford has established himself as a straight up baller. So much so that he was invited to the NBA combine, and worked out for his home-state Nuggets, and his favorite team, the Lakers, "Coming from a small school here in Colorado Springs, you know, I wasn't supposed to be in this position. Nobody ever would have thought I would have been where I'm at. You know, you see your hard work pay off, which is pretty special. But I'm nowhere near where I want to be," says Nique Clifford.

On that note, knowing he had more room to grow, Clifford decided to return to Colorado State, "The first day was hard. I was struggling a little bit. (I was) just pretty upset and frustrated. But after that first day, I got into the mentality of look at it in a positive lens. How much it's going to help me this next year," says Clifford.

He probably would have been drafted, but maybe not. He might have gotten a guaranteed contract, but maybe not. Either way, he was on the doorstop of every basketball player's dream, and closing the door, even thought it's only for now, it wasn't easy, "It was super hard. And it came down to, what, the last 3 hours, maybe? Before the deadline was closed. So that's how hard of a decision it was," says Clifford.

Now that he's decided to bet on himself, it's full speed ahead, "I'm pumped! There's been a lot of support and love shown to me. So I'm definitely excited to just go out there and give everything I got to to the fans and all the people that shows support to us," says Clifford.